Filner backs convention-stadium

Mayor also calls for creation of a 'Museum of Comic Books" that would keep Comic-Con in San Diego and attract 'zombie' tourists

Mayor Bob Filner, left, awaits his chance to speak at a San Diego Foundation forum on redevelopment. To his left if Jeff Graham, president of Civic San Diego, and Steve Russell, an activist in North Park revitalization.
-Roger Showley

Mayor Bob Filner, left, awaits his chance to speak at a San Diego Foundation forum on redevelopment. To his left if Jeff Graham, president of Civic San Diego, and Steve Russell, an activist in North Park revitalization.

“Who would come here? All the zombies — they’d be here forever, they’d be here all year,” Filner said. “I’m not being facetious, by the way. If we had something like that, it would set San Diego apart and allow us to do things we just simply cannot do.”

The mayor also took the opportunity to justify a bid with Tijuana for the 2024 Summer Olympics as a way to improve cross-border trade and development. He said he had recently received a letter from U.S. Olympic organizers inviting San Diego to submit a bid and he said he replied positively.

“Whether we win or not, we win,” he said, because the effort would identify ways to knit the two sides of the border closer together.

“In and of itself, it will get people excited about the relationship between our two cities and our two nations,” he said. “So we’re going to use that as a focal point for talking about some of the issues I think we should be talking about.”